Amelia Earheart becomes Google Doodle

Amelia Earheart becomes the subject of the latest Google Doodle, celebrating the 115th anniversary of her birth.

Amelia Mary Earhart (born July 24, 1897) was a noted American aviation pioneer and author.

Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, which she did in 1932.

She set many other flying records, wrote best-selling books about her experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.

She was also a member of the National Woman’s Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937, in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island.

To date there is no single conclusive proven theory of what happened, other than a combination of equipment failures and misunderstandings made the entire attempt extremely vulnerable to catastrophic failure of some degree.

Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

Earhart was a widely known international celebrity during her lifetime. Her shyly charismatic appeal, independence, persistence, coolness under pressure, courage and goal-oriented career along with the circumstances of her disappearance at a comparatively early age have driven her lasting fame in popular culture.

Hundreds of articles and scores of books have been written about her life which is often cited as a motivational tale, especially for girls. Earhart is generally regarded as a feminist icon.